Ms Maggie Newman has been appointed the first female general manager of the Royal Dublin Hotel. She recently returned to the hotel from White's Hotel in Co Wexford where she was general manager.

She joined the Royal Dublin in 1993 as conference and banqueting manager and was later promoted to assistant general manager.

Ms Newman previously worked at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in London and is a graduate of DIT Cathal Brugha Street.

ICC Bank has announced significant changes to its business structure by creating several commercial banking teams. The teams will be headed up by five recently-appointed divisional directors, who will report to Mr Charles Carroll, general manager banking.

Mr Denis O'Connell takes up the position of director of lending. He was previously divisional manager of the bank's regional offices and oversaw the setting up of ICC's Belfast branch.

Mr Paddy Bowen has been appointed as director, corporate banking, the division of the company which focuses on marketing business property loans to medium and large corporations in the Dublin area.

Mr John O'Neill, who specialises in lending, has been appointed a director of corporate banking.

Mr Leo Roche has been appointed a director of the company's property division where he has worked for 10 years.

Mr Michael Larkin has been appointed director of tourism and leisure, while Mr John Rohan has taken up the post of director, business development and marketing.

Mr Stephen O'Neill has been appointed director, customer services.

Budget Travel has announced the appointment of Mr Michael Sanfey as chief executive of its retail division.

Mr Sanfey recently returned from the US, where he was director of marketing for a leading apartment development and leasing company, based in Arizona.

Lakeland Dairies, the fifth-largest dairy processor in the State, has made two senior appointments in a move to strengthen its operational and marketing management team.

Mr Michael Hanley has been appointed general manager, dairy operations and development, with overall responsibility throughout the Lakeland organisation for all dairy processing facilities, milk assembly and member relations. Mr Hanley was formerly member relations manager at the company.

Mr Jim Corbett has been appointed general manager, marketing and development, with overall responsibility for sales, marketing and business development. Mr Corbett will have additional responsibility for acquisition and joint venture activity.

Irish Life has announced the appointment of two senior executives to the company's new bancassurance operation in Hungary.

Mr David Truman has been appointed chief executive of the new company, after leaving a position with Irish Life (UK).

Mr Ciaran Tobin has been appointed head of finance and operations in Hungary, after leaving the corporate business division of Irish Life.

The new bancassurance operation is being established in conjunction with Kredietbank (Belgium) and Kereskedelmi es Hitelbank (K&H), the Hungarian bank in which Irish Life and Kredietbank jointly secured a majority stake last year.

Meanwhile, Mr David Went has been appointed to the board of Irish Life. Mr Went was recently appointed group managing director designate.

Mr Vincent Dodd has taken up the post of head of private banking with Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB).

Mr Dodd joins IIB from Bank of Ireland Securities Services where he was head of business development. Prior to this, he worked with the Investment Bank of Ireland.

Law firm, Matteson Ormsby Prentice has appointed five partners, bringing the total to 26. The chairman of Matteson Ormsby Prentice is Independent Newspapers chairman, Dr Tony O'Reilly.

The new partners are Mr Ciaran Desmond, Mr Simon McAleese, Mr Brian Buggy, Mr Don McAleese and Mr Paul Glenfield.

Mr Sean McCourt, the technical manager with Calor Gas, has been appointed chairman of the Irish Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (ILPGA), the representatives body of the petroleum gas industry in the Republic.

As chairman, Mr McCourt will head up the ILPGA's "cleaner air 2000 campaign", which aims to bring Ireland into line with other EU states in the use of cleaner fuels.